Opening Up
by Myrrthee
Summary: One-shot about a traumatic event in Kate's past. Very AU, just a product of my imagination. I hope you'll give it a shot and leave a review :) this is my first day in the world of fanfic writing so I'm sorry if it's bad :p


A/N: AU story about a traumatic event in Kate's past

Disclaimer: I don't own Castle. Plain and simple :). Oh how I wish I did, though...

Johanna Beckett closed the car door and took the hand of her very obstinate five-year-old daughter "mommy I don't wanna go to school today" Kate said. "Sweetie you have to, there's no 'but's'". Johanna answered. But mommy I wanna go to work with you today it's really fun there. "Kate listen to me you really can't" Johanna said, as they were walking towards the school.

All of a sudden a black SUV pulled up and 2 armed man stepped out. Kate began screaming and they grabbed her and Johanna, pulled them into the car and drove off into the distance. Inside the car, Kate was crying uncontrollably and Johanna was very worried about what was going on. They drove for what seemed like hours but was probably only just 30 minutes. When the car came to a stop, Johanna took her Katie into her arms best she could and shielded her from the door. The door opened and they were both being dragged out of the car, Kate all the while screaming for her mother. She didn't like one bit where this was going, kidnapped to a sketchy warehouse. This was bound to end badly.

Johanna felt a needle being poked inside of her arm, and soon everything was black. The last thing she saw was Kate, unconscious in one of her kidnappers' arms.

When she awoke, she felt a little head lying on her chest, her shirt was soaked. It seemed like her daughter had fallen asleep crying. Oh God, what kind of mother was she?! She got her kid kidnapped, great! "Katie, love, wake up please", she whispered softly in her daughter's ear. Kate began to stir and immediately pulled away from her mother, thinking it was one of the scary men. "Mommy you're awake! I'm so glad you're awake! I thought you were dead.. I was trying to wake you but you didn't wake up and then I tried to feel your heartbeat in your wrist like the people on tv do but it was really weak mommy.." And then she started crying again.

"Sweetie, ssshh.. It's okay, we'll get out of here.." Johanna said to her while rocking her little girl back and forth in her lap. "Mommy I heard the big men talking, I know what they want from you.." Kate said. "That's my girl! I'm so proud of you Katie! Tell me all about it please." She said, smiling proudly. "It's about the case you're working on, they are friends with the Russian man and they want you to drop the case and hand over the evid.. Ecide..." She struggled to say the word. "Evidence?" Johanna asked, still smiling. It's crazy how even in these kind of situations her baby girl could still make her smile.

"Yes, evidence!" She said in a high pitched tone. "Okay listen carefully Katie, whatever they do, you cannot, ABSOLUTELY not, tell them anything about it okay? She said in a stern tone. "Yeah I know mommy, it's a part of your job...", she said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "And remember, whatever happens, mommy loves you very very much okay? More than you'll ever know! Okay?" "I know mommy. I love you too, all the way to the moon and back", she said, reaching out to hug her mother. After a moment of silence, she asked "are we going to heaven mommy?" Johanna was shocked by Kate's words and her level of comprehension of this situation. She honestly didn't know what to say, but didn't want to lie, either. "I don't know baby...", she simply said.

A few minutes later the door opened, and a big, muscular man walked in. "Good, I see you're awake", he said with a heavy Russian accent. "What do you want from us?" Johanna said in a threatening tone. "Now now, don't be mean mrs. Beckett, or you'll regret it", he said, pulling out a gun and pointing it towards Kate. Johanna and Kate both gasped out of fear, and the man continued speaking. "I want the case files and the evidence from the Ubinov case. And I want you to drop the case. If not, I'll kill your little girl", he said, while walking towards Kate and placing the barrel of the gun on her forehead. "Mommy help me please", Kate whimpered, really scared. "I can't give you that and you know it", Johanna said to the Russian man in a stern tone. "Very well then, you leave me no choice" he said.

He turned around to the two men standing in the doorway and said to them "get the girl out of here, we'll get rid of her later." "NOOOOO!", Kate shrieked, and she backed away towards the corner of the room they were trapped in, not realizing she made it all the more difficult for herself. "Leave me alone!" She yelled. "Don't you dare touch my baby!", Johanna shouted to them, putting herself in front of Kate, hoping to protect her from whatever was next.

"Mrs. Beckett, step away now or you'll really regret it. We can either shoot her, spare her the pain, or we could make it interesting", the Russian man said to them. "Mommy, please move away mommy, I don't want to get hurt", Kate said, trying to be brave.

"Can we have a moment please?", Johanna said. "Since you're going to kill her, I'd like to say goodbye. "Hmm that's okay but please bear in mind that escaping is not possible, we'll be right outside the door." He said to her. That's when Johanna noticed the knife in the Russian man's side pocket. She needed to get a hold of that knife. Once the Russian man would leave the room, she would come up with a plan.

He left, and immediately Johanna took Kate into her arms. "Katie, baby, listen... When the scary man comes back, I need you to close your eyes, and when I shout RUN, you need to find the exit and run as fast as you can, back to the city or you have to find a pay-phone and call the police okay?" "Okay mommy.. What about you?, she asked in return. "We'll be okay, we'll make it out of here, I promise."

Just when she said that, the door re-opened and the Russian man came back inside, the other two men were nowhere to be seen. Kate didn't close her eyes, wanting to see her mommy as much as she could, while she still could. The man walked towards Kate, and Johanna acted by instinct. She came up behind him, grabbed the knife, and tried to stab him in the stomach. He, however, was onto her and he tried to overrule her. "KATIE RUN! NOW!", she shouted.

While being distracted by her daughter, Johanna got stabbed in the shoulder. She screamed out in pain. Kate was utterly terrified by her mom and the situation. She saw this was bound to end badly for her mom, so she stood up, gathered all her power and kicked the Russian man in the balls with all her force, and the man fell to the ground with a loud moan of pain. All of a sudden they heard a muffled gunshot, and Kate felt her legs give away from underneath her.

The last thing she could say before she blacked out was "I love you mommy." "Katie stay with me baby, I'll get help!" Her mom said, not knowing she was already out. Johanna grabbed the gun with the silencer, and shot the Russian man in the head.

Once she made sure he was dead, she grabbed her girl and ripped a piece of her shirt off, and tied it around Kate's hip, where the bullet entered her, trying to apply pressure to the wound and to stop the bleeding. She picked her up, grabbed the gun and ran out of the room, surprised to find out it wasn't even locked.

She ran towards a window and guessed on which floor she was, figuring out the amount of staircases she had to go down, just in case the floors weren't indicated. 4 floors to ground level, with a girl and a gun. This was going to be interesting. She ran the nearest stairwell and went down, being on high alert all the time. She needed to get her girl out of here, fast, or she'd die in her arms. She was becoming really heavy, and her being stabbed in the shoulder didn't help one bit. Luckily the wound was quite shallow and the bleeding wasn't that bad anymore.

She didn't find or see anyone while on her way out. The two other men were probably long gone or kidnapping somebody else. Once outside, she noticed something she hadn't noticed before. She was actually still in the city, she knew this building. It was the abandoned Red Hook Grain Terminal. She had multiple options to find the nearest hospital, either hail a cab or find a pay-phone. If only she didn't let her phone in the car... She'd be in the hospital by now if she hadn't. She felt Kate's pulse getting weaker and panicked.

She didn't have enough time to think, she just ran away from the factory, she ran as fast as she could, and after what seemed like hours she found a pay-phone. Luckily 911 was an emergency number so you didn't have to pay for it. She immediately dialed 911 "911, what's your emergency?", the person on the phone asked. "Yes, hi, my name is Johanna Beckett, I've been stabbed in the shoulder and my 5 year old was shot in the hip, we need medical assistance ASAP or she will bleed to death." "Okay ma'am, please stay calm, I'm gonna need your location to send a bus there.." "Yes, of course, we're currently on Nelson St. In Brooklyn, but I think we're being chased by 2 armed men, so please hurry." Johanna told the woman. "We've got a 10-52 and a possible 10-32 on Nelson St. , Brooklyn" she heard the woman say. "Okay ma'am, the ambulance is on its way, shouldn't be more than 10 minutes please stay calm and stay on the line with me. Suddenly, Johanna felt very weak, like she couldn't stand anymore. Her legs gave up and she fell to the floor, into unconsciousness. That's how the EMT's found them when they arrived.

They made it to the New York Presbyterian hospital in record time, and Kate was brought to the OR immediately. She'd had surgery and went into a medically induced coma, but when Kate woke up, she'd been told her mother had died. She felt like she couldn't breathe, after all that happened, she really thought they were gonna make it.

Kate's squirming was what woke Castle. He turned to the alarm clock and saw bright red numbers shining back at him; 3:27AM, it read. Kate was squirming in her sleep again, Castle noticed. She turned a lot and was very restless. He tried to wake her up, realizing she was having a nightmare. She wouldn't wake up though, and tears began to stream from her closed eyes "NO", she shouted. "Leave me alone.." Castle didn't know what this was about, he'd never heard it before "Mommy, please move away mommy, I don't wanna get hurt." There were more tears streaming down her face, and he decided he'd had enough

He wrapped his arms around her in a protective way, and Kate obviously took it the wrong way and started kicking him in her sleep. "Kate you have to wake up. Kaaate!" He said somewhat louder, shaking her a bit.

She woke up, gasping for air and the first thing she did was free herself from Castle's embrace and moving to the corner of their bedroom, drawing her knees up to her chest.

Castle had never seen her like this before, he didn't know what to do. He climbed out of bed, sat beside her and took her in his arms and stroked her hair in a comforting way while she was still crying. "Kate, it's ok, it was just a nightmare, you're safe here.", he whispered softly. He continued to stroke her hair softly and whispered soothing words into her ear. When her sobs had quieted he asked "Wanna talk about what happened?"

He knew she didn't like to talk about her feelings, even after two and a half years of marriage. "Castle I want to, but I'm afraid of what you'll think of me, it's stupid really.." she said on a sigh.

"Kate, nothing you will ever say will make me think less off you and it could never, ever be stupid. I'm here for you you know...? Always." he told her.

"I know.." she said. "Oh God, it's such a long story I don't even know where to start." "How about the beginning?" he said, being his usual, witty self. She smiled, loving his dorky remarks.

"Okay then.. I was 5 years old, and I had a particularly bad night, threw up and felt sick all the time..." she told him. "I didn't want to go to school...", she continued, "...but I had to."

"When we got out of the car and were on our way to the school's entrance, a black SUV pulled up and me and my mom were taken hostage by two armed men. We drove around for 30 minutes when we pulled up at what I now know was the Red Hook Grain Terminal. The men wanted some case files from my mom because they were friends with some guy she prosecuted for abuse and whatnot so they wanted him out on the streets instead of behind bars. So they used me as leverage, threatened to kill me if she didn't hand over all the files and the evidence she had against the guy.

"We tried to escape, but during the escape she got stabbed in her shoulder and I got shot in my hip. That's where I got the scar from you always ask me about. So now you know..." she said.

"Oh my God, Kate, I'm so sorry, I didn't know..." he was completely dumbfounded. She went through all of that at the age of 5? Sweet lord..

"It's not your fault Rick... Anyways..." she said as she stood up, climber on the bed and scooted up towards the headboard, leaning her back against it. She patted the space next to her, motioning for Rick to come and sit there."I was unconscious immediately, so my mom carried me 4 floors down and half a mile to the nearest pay-phone to call 911. When the ambulance arrived, we were both lying on the pavement, unconscious. In the hospital, I went straight into surgery due to major blood loss and my wound. We both survived, luckily. I guess it was a miracle.." she finished.

"Kate, I'm so sorry for you..." Rick said, completely speechless. They both had tears in their eyes and were clinging on to each other. "Now in my dream however, my mom didn't survive, and I just couldn't handle it. I'm sorry I woke you up.", she told him. "Hey Kate, look at me.", he said. She didn't really like that kind of confrontation. She looked away, almost if ashamed. He gently lifted her chin up so her eyes met his. "You do NOT need to apologize, for anything, ok?!", he told her. "I'm so proud of you, what you did, even at that age. You saved your mom and yourself, Kate, damn! You were only 5 years old, no 5 year old deserves to go through what you went through..." He told her.

When Rick looked at the alarm clock again, he saw it was already 4:12AM. "Tell you what Kate, we'll go to bed right now, and first thing in the morning we'll call your mom to make sure she's ok and we'll visit her later okay?" he said softly. "Sounds like a plan", she said while smiling at his love for her and his need to make sure she was truly ok.

He lifted the covers and slipped underneath them, he did the same. He lay with his front against her back, spooning in the way she liked it, and wrapped his arms around her.

They soon fell asleep, the nightmare not returning, but a lovely dream of her, her husband and a little toddler running around instead. 'One day...' she thought to herself, and smiled in her sleep.

-the end-

A/N: This is VERY AU and this is my second fanfic ever. I'm not a native speaker, so I'm sorry for any grammar and/or spelling mistakes. Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it, I did quite a bit of research for it. Please leave a review and tell me what you think. :)

About the codes during the 911 call, 10-32 is a Man with Gun and 10-52 is Ambulance Needed :)


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